HANGZHOU HISTORY

The celebrated Neolithic culture of Hemudu was discovered in this area seven thousand years ago, when rice was first cultivated in southeastern China.

The city of Hangzhou was founded about 2,200 years ago during the Qin Dynasty. It is one of the seven ancient capitals of China. But the city wall was not constructed until the Sui Dynasty (591). It was the capital of the Wu Yue Kingdom for more than 200 years, during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms Period.

The oldest Buddhist temple in the city is believed to be Lingyin Si ("Soul's Retreat"), which, like most of the other landmarks in this city, has gone through numerous destruction and reconstruction cycles. The contemporary building was finished in 1910.

Hangzhou was a capital of the Southern Song Dynasty with a population of over 1.5 million, a center of trade and entertainment and a home to the main branches of the civil service. During that time, the city was the gravity centre of Chinese civilization as what used to be considered the "central China" in the north was taken by Jin, a dynasty of an ethnic minority. Numerous philosophers, politicians, and men of literature, including some of the most celebrated poets in Chinese history such as Su Shi, Lu You, and Xin Qiji came here to live and die.

In 970, the Liu-He Pagoda was first constructed on the north shore of Qiantang River, towering over 100 meters in height. It collapsed in 1121, and was reconstructed in 1156 to a more sustainable height of 60 m.

In 1089, Su Shi constructed a 2.8-km long dike across the West Lake, which Qing Emperor Qianlong considered particularly attractive in the early morning of the spring time. The lake, which itself is artificial, is largely surrounded by mountains. The Baoshi Pagoda sits on one of these hills to the north.

Yue-Wang Miao ("King Yue's Temple") near the West Lake was originally constructed in 1221 in memory of General Yue Fei, who lost his life due to political persecution.

The city used to be a port until the middle Ming Dynasty when its harbor slowly silted up with sediments. And Hangzhou was liberated by Chiang Kai-shek (Jiang Jieshi) during the 1911 revolution which overthrew the Qing Dynasty, China's last period of dynastic rule. It is still the southern-most port of the Grand Canal.